Binay Shah, MD, MHA

Biography

Dr. Binay Shah is a hematologist and oncologist who is a national leader in global oncology and cancer health disparities. Dr. Shah says he was drawn to philanthropy after reading a bio of Mother Theresa in high school. Growing up in Nepal, Dr. Shah often saw people suffer due to lack of access to healthcare and decided to dedicate his life to helping alleviate that suffering. As a resident physician in Brooklyn, NY, he saw the disparities in healthcare in the United States. He co-founded the Binaytara Foundation with his wife Tara when he was an internal medicine resident in New York City. Under Dr. Shah’s visionary leadership, the Binaytara Foundation helped establish Nepal’s first bone marrow transplant center; palliative care programs in South Asia; and a 25-bed cancer hospital in Southern Nepal, which will be expanded to a 200-bed cancer hospital by 2026. These projects have saved thousands of lives and transformed how healthcare is delivered in those parts of the world. Dr. Shah believes countries have human-made boundaries, but humanity does not. His vision is to see a world where everyone can access cutting-edge cancer care regardless of who they are or where they live. He aims to establish one cancer center annually in places worldwide where people die from cancer without a diagnosis or treatment.